Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has claimed that there is no “quick fix” for the housing crisis that has left thousands of people homeless.

He denied that the Government had failed in meeting its targets to get families out of emergency accommodation.

“To say you have failed is giving up, we are not giving up.

“We never said we could fix this overnight, the construction industry was destroyed and there is no quick fix.”

The Taoiseach claimed that the local authorities had a role to play, while denying that his Government was trying to pass blame.

He said: “I totally accept that this isn’t happening quick enough, and that’s why we want to put the pressure on local authorities to deliver faster with the money that’s already pre-allocated in the budget for next year.

He told RTE’s Morning Ireland: “There is an additional €400m for the Department of Housing.”

The Taoiseach said that when it comes to developing sites for housing and social housing the local and central government shares responsibility, echoing Minister for Housing Eoghan Murphy’s view about putting pressure on local councils.

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On Thursday, Mr Murphy set a deadline for local authorities to explain why they haven’t done enough to prevent homeless figures rising, claiming that it was unacceptable that two or three local authorities were not putting in place solutions even though they had been given the resources and money.

“Utterly disingenuous and deflecting attack by @campaignforleo on Local Authorities. Yes, delivery of housing is nowhere near quick enough BUT the Govt have not resourced LAs with enough resources and expertise. Desperate stuff from Taoiseach on @morningireland #RaiseTheRoof”

The Taoiseach also revealed that that Donald Trump told him that he intends to come to Ireland this November and stressed that the US President had a standing invitation from him to come to Ireland.